Eve Koguce's Blog, page 17

Book Review / "Rum" by Naomi Jessica Rose

Rum by Naomi Jessica Rose

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I used to read a lot of fairy tales when I was a child, and Brothers Grimm’s collections were a part of my parents’ extensive library. Still, I must confess that the first time I heard about Rumpelstiltskin was in the tv series “Once Upon a Time”. So, I read “Rum” by Naomi Jessica Rose not as a retelling of an original fairy tale, without any expectations for the characters or the plot.

The author has created a mesmerising fantastical world, where people with magical powers treat them as something ordinary. Reading this book was the purest form of escapism, the characters’ worries and dreams being far from our everyday concerns. At the same time, every character represents a particular type of person we can easily meet nowadays. A dreamer whose needs are taken care of by a doting father. A young boy who doesn’t realise he has a gift, but who simply shares it with those around him. A conceited, self-centered privileged man, who has so much and still, craves for more. A wife, who did everything to force her husband to marry her, but after he did, started to unleash her disappointment and bitterness on him.

I liked the fairy tale tone of the story as much as I liked its characters being relatable.
Serena, the main character of the book, is both sweet and annoying in her naiveté. She loves to tell stories she sees in her head. Storytelling is a part of her, and she doesn’t question where those stories come from. She believes destiny has a beautiful life in store for her. But as it usually happens with dreamers, who let their imagination carry them too far from reality, she is about to encounter the harsh face of the world.

I found the book fascinating in many ways. On the one hand, just like her stories do with Serena, “Rum” has taken me away from my own reality into a completely different one. The one where people live simple lives, sewing their clothes and taking their grain to the mill for it to be made into flour. The one where life is laced with magic. On the other hand, I could relate to the characters' choices and also understand why they had to deal with the consequences of their actions and decisions.

There are dark, unsettling themes in this book, just like in almost every fairy tale from our childhood. I am grateful to the author for giving me a unique opportunity to dive into the world of magic and fantasy and look at things I’d missed wandering through the enchanted forests on the book pages as a child.





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Rum

Book review / The Dragon Lady by Louisa Treger

The Dragon Lady by Louisa Treger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The book begins with a sort of flashback so expertly disguised that it is rather confusing. I believe it is the reason I couldn’t get into the story for about one-third of the book and couldn’t shake off the feeling of irritation until the end.

My subjective guess is that it’s the result of the author’s work with the editors whose primary task is to make a book as “smooth” as possible to avoid possible criticism of the story being “slow-paced” or having “weak opening pages”. Anyway, these endeavours worked the other way round for me causing confusion not immersion into the story of Ginie, Lady Virginia Courtland.

Set mainly in Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) in the 1950s, with glimpses at the main characters’ lives in different European countries before they came to Africa, “The Dragon Lady” by Louisa Treger follows the life of Lady Virginia Courtauld, or Ginie. After their efforts to get fully accepted into the stiff British high society, Ginie and her husband Stephen Courtauld decide to settle in Rhodesia, far away from the prejudices and restraints of the old aristocracy.

For a while, it seems that the Courtaulds managed to build their personal paradise under the piercing sun of Rhodesia. Alas, the political issues and the brewing unrest among the locals, as well as the unwillingness of the British citizens living in the country to accept the inevitable changes, bring trouble to the couple. Despite their generosity and eagerness to invest in a better future for the country they now call home, there are those who believe the Courtaulds don’t belong in Rhodesia.

The book was interesting to read. It has all the right ingredients to keep the reader turning the pages. The exotic setting expertly described, the complex characters whose true nature readers will try to guess until the end, twists and turns you might not see coming.

For me personally, Ginie’s character lacked depth. Or maybe, it’s clarity. On the one hand, she loved wealth and all the beautiful things it brought. She craved to be accepted into the high society of England. While on the other, she sympathised with the people of Rhodesia who suffered from inequality and segregation. It is perfectly understandable that these things can exist side by side in a person. It’s just for me, in the case with Ginie, for some reason, they didn’t stitch together.






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The Dragon Lady

Book review / Saying Goodbye Forever by H. Pearce

Saying Goodbye Forever by H. Pearce

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Grief comes in many forms. You can grieve over something you have lost. And you can also grieve over something you’ve never had.

“Saying Goodbye Forever” by H. Pearce follows Gemma’s path through her grief over losing her husband. Neither did her marriage resemble a fairy tale, nor was Jack a perfect husband. Still, it is not how relationships and human emotions work.

Gemma seems to be content having found balance in her new life without her husband. But her best friend Kirsty, a woman who believes that even in relationships the more is always the better, can’t leave her in peace. She keeps insisting that Gemma needs to get out of the shell she has exiled herself to. The day Gemma becomes tired of her friend’s insistence and agrees to do what she doesn’t want to do, she meets a man who turns her life upside-down.

“Saying Goodbye Forever” makes the reader search for answers to many difficult questions. Questions we often prefer not to ask ourselves to avoid pain and disappointment. I loved the way the author made Gemma feel like a real person, not a fictional character that follows the commonly accepted patterns. At forty-something, she doesn’t have ungrounded hopes, and the past fills a more significant part of her mind and soul than the future. She realises that there isn’t such a rule that everything will definitely change for the better, and she can’t stop dwelling on what she could have done differently to save her husband from doing what he did.

When she meets Lewis, Gemma has to struggle with the feeling of guilt that doesn’t let her move forward with her life. She also faces the incredulity that someone like Lewis, a talented surgeon with the heart of gold and younger than her, can have serious feelings for her.

Set against the backdrop of modern lifestyle, “Saying Goodbye Forever” by H. Pearce explores the demands nowadays society raises for women while successfully veiling it with equal rights slogans.






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Saying Goodbye Forever

Book review / Crave by Kat Kinney

Crave by Kat Kinney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Everyone is good at something. The trick in life was figuring out what your something was.”

Dallas Caldwell has figured out what he is not simply good but unequalled at. Kitchen is his podium and grill is his magic wand. He doesn’t simply cook. He creates masterpieces, the citizens not only of Blood Moon – the town in Texas known mainly for the most scandalous event involving paranormals – but the whole county and beyond crave.

The thing is, while cooking satiates one part of him, Dallas craves something he cannot have. Or is he deluding himself?

Lacey Blair is the queen of cupcakes. Red velvet with white chocolate frosting topped with blueberries. Wouldn’t you drive some extra miles to put these on your table? Besides, who can resist blueberry muffins and cranberry scones?

Lacey loves flashy running shoes and to play tricks to annoy Dallas Caldwell. Think painting the front door with blood-read cake frosting. After all, that’s what best friends do, right? Make each other laugh.

The thing is, Lacey wants to do way more with Dallas than make him laugh or bicker through endless text messages.

“Love was about as permanent as sand trickling between your outstretched fingers. The tighter you tried to hang on, the faster it slipped away.” That’s Lacey’s take on relationships.

In the world of shapeshifters, the relationship between Dallas and Lacey is out of the question. He had breached the most sacred of laws and infected an innocent mortal with the virus of lycanthropy. They both paid a high price for the young love that had gone so horribly wrong. Lacey is forced to witness every day the struggle her mother has to go through because of the decisions Lacey had made. But Dallas is in constant inside battle, punishing himself for having ruined Lacey’s life and suffering from the harsh consequences it had brought. Feeling estranged from his family, who had sent him away after the accident with Lacey, he fights to find the balance that would set his mind and soul at peace.

In the world of shapeshifters – and vampires – one can plan but it doesn’t guarantee one’s life puzzle will stay in place. Something sinister is brewing up. That event by the town sign of Blood Moon that had turned the life of ignorant bliss of humans upside down is only the beginning.
Caught up in the middle of investigating what is wrong in the supernatural world, Dallas and Lacey face their inner demons and the feelings they have for each other.

“Crave” is the second book in the Blood Moon, Texas Shifters series by Kat Kinney. I couldn’t put it down. And – don’t judge! – I’m already halfway through book three “Bound”. I guess I’ve fallen under the spell of some shifter with the magic ability to pull readers into the story. I can’t wait for book four to come out!






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Crave

Book review / Broken by Ivy Logan

Broken by Ivy Logan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Is magic a gift or a curse? Do your roots define you? Is there anything more powerful than a prophecy made by ancient spirits? “Broken” by Ivy Logan provides answers to all these questions, leaving readers with more to muse about.

From the first pages, you get immersed in a world so unlike our own but in some ways, so similar. No matter if you are a sorceress with magic powers or a mere human with a palette of weaknesses when it comes to people you love, the balance might shift. What one considered their greatest asset, becomes the reason for their ruin. And everyone can make mistakes irrespective of their power and experience.

Talia, the half-blood sorceress, has been blessed with a happy childhood. I think that, along with the combat training she went through since she was little, it was what made her strong, determined, and not afraid of making difficult choices when a lot more than her life is at stake. But, as it often happens, the ones gifted with the best qualities, get tested by life the most. Talia is not an exception. She is forced to run away from everything she knows and everyone she loves. Still, the inner light the love she was growing up surrounded with has ignited, helps her stay sane and keep moving forward.

Talia’s strength gets tested, again and again. The lines between common sense and fear of failing those she loves, get blurred more and more. It was fascinating to follow her on her path to building her own life, not really leaving the one she had with her parents and brother behind.

Like a whirlpool, “Broken” pulls you into its fantasy world. And once you enter, you get under the spell of the beautiful sorceresses, and the Wraith, ancient spirits who have the power to rule over the lives of the mightiest sorceresses. You imagine what it feels like to ride a dragon and what other secrets are hidden in Htrae, the world of magic unseen to humans living on Earth.

There is more to explore in the world the author has introduced readers to in “Broken”, and I can’t wait to continue this journey.






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Broken

Book review / Mr. Darcy's Perfect Match by Kelly Miller

Mr. Darcy's Perfect Match: A Pride & Prejudice Variation by Kelly Miller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Let me begin this review with a confession. I am very cross with Ms. Miller, the author of “Mr. Darcy’s Perfect Match”, for having written only five books. I’ve already read all of them, and I feel rather bereft not having another elegant Jane Austen variation to look forward to.

Having said that, I hasten to make one more confession. Just like other Kelly Miller’s books, “Mr. Darcy’s Perfect Match” doesn’t disappoint. It transports the reader back in time, right into the era of gallantry, propriety rules, titles, and prejudices. With her beautiful prose, the author reconstructs on the book pages the times long gone.

In this “Pride and Prejudice” variation we meet the Darcys and their extended clan, the very same titled and affluent nobility who in the original novel were to be shocked by Mr. Darcy’s choice of a wife. We also get to know Georgiana, Mr. Darcy’s younger sister. I liked the way she is portrayed in this novel. She feels insecure about her ability to make sound judgements about people due to what happened between her and Mr. Wickham. It leads to certain complications in Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationships. Still, societal norms of that time are the ones to blame for misunderstandings between the characters.

The setting of the book – grand mansions, parks and museums of London – was a refreshing change. I do love the Austenesque countryside dearly. It is a picture of bliss with ladies – at least some of them – running freely across the fields covered with spring flowers, lower-key country balls with local gentry gossiping about their neighbours and girls not yet of age to be out dancing with officers of the militia regiment stationed in the neighbourhood. But London holds a charm of its own. Strolling the streets and places, which names have not been touched by passing centuries – Piccadilly, Oxford Street, Bond Street, Hyde Park, Tower of London – together with Darcys, Bennets, and Bingleys, the warm feeling of nostalgia didn’t leave me the entire reading time.

I recommend “Mr. Darcy’s Perfect Match” by Kelly Miller to all Austenesque romance lovers. The book has it all. Beautiful setting, charming prose, prudent ladies with passions hiding behind their calm facades, and gallant gentlemen dreaming about finding brides not only with titles and wealth that would satisfy their noble families but such who would excite them and stir their polished outer decorum.







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Mr. Darcy's Perfect Match: A Pride & Prejudice Variation

Book review / Gone Away Girl by Juliette Caron

Gone Away Girl by Juliette Caron

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Good girls go to heaven, but bad girls go everywhere," states the legendary quote by Helen Gurley Brown. I absolutely loved how Juliette Caron proved the opposite in her book “Gone Away Girl”.

Chloe is seventeen, and she is a good girl. She makes a tough choice not every “bad” girl gathers enough courage to make. Sensing that leaving things as they are is more dangerous than taking a reckless step, Chloe runs away from home.

I liked that Chloe is unlike those runaways who in movies and tv series are depicted as victims of circumstances and who inevitably end up in some gruesome situations. I won’t say more to avoid spoilers. Moreover, Chloe doesn’t just run away without any plan whatsoever. She has a plan, and although not everything goes according to it, it still helps her to stay on the right track.

I found it fascinating how resourceful a person can be when determined not to give up on their fundamental principles but forced to adapt to circumstances that are mainly out of their control. Chloe is determined to make her dreams about a better life come true, and despite being repeatedly let down by life, she moves on steadily to her goals.

I also liked the conclusion the author unobtrusively leads readers to. The most important thing in anyone’s life is people. The right people who are ready to support you. Someone might never meet such people, while others are lucky and in addition to their own efforts, they get help from those who believe in them and are there for them.

I struggled a little with a “high school scene”, but it is strictly my subjective perception. I guess it’s due to my own experience, I’m not drawn to descriptions of school life. It’s not because my school years were awful. I simply was too withdrawn and into my own world, so now, more than two decades after graduating, I’m even less able to feel excited about school dynamics.

“Gone Away Girl” by Juliette Caron is a wonderful story that inspires to believe in yourself and your dreams.





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Gone Away Girl

Book review / The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This isn’t a story of forbidden love between a girl from Australia and a priest. “The Thorn Birds” by Colleen McCullough is so much more.

To be honest, Maggie and Ralph de Bricassart’s love story plotline was the one that fascinated me the least in this book. If anything, it even annoyed me a little. Reading it now, when romantic school girl’s days are long behind me, I saw clearly that their relationship wouldn’t have worked even if they’d or to stay on the objective side, Ralph, had chosen Maggie over a career in the Vatican.

The storyline that did fascinate me – and it doesn’t let go after I’ve read the book – is the one of Fiona and Paddy. Maggie’s parents. In my eyes, even though I wouldn’t wish Fiona’s destiny for any woman, she impersonates an essence of femininity. She is strong, but not perfect. Moreover, she doesn’t strive for perfection. As a woman with intuition – and isn’t it the trait we attribute to “real women” – she concentrates on keeping yourself capable of moving on. She’s not a saint. She doesn’t come to realise many important things that would have made her life easier before it’s too late. Her attitude to her children wouldn’t win her a modern “best mother” award. Still, she is resilient, flexible, and adaptive. By moving forward through years and decades and accepting stoically what fate throws at her, keeping her inner self whole, she presents an amazing example of an honourable life.

Another thing that has irrevocably drawn me in, is Drogheda. The vast Australian sheep station, with its enormous lands, the number of sheep, which is hard to wrap one’s head around – one hundred twenty-five thousand! – demands those who work on it to give them all to its needs. Some people, Maggie’s brothers, devote their whole lives to the work on Drogheda, to serve it, to make it go on. I was enthralled by the descriptions of the station’s routines, the never-ending flow of duties, the old trees that outlived people, the flowers that coloured the yellow landscape, the drought… The Australian drought! Its description sent chills down my spine. I tried to imagine what it’s like when it doesn’t rain for years, and you have plants to water, human and animal mouths to feed, the household to maintain – and I still can’t. And if regular droughts weren’t enough, there is a risk of fire. A kind of fire that destroys everything on its way, and people can do so little to stop it.

Besides providing the readers with a sweeping family saga, the story of the Clearys stretching over several decades, and splashes of insights into the life behind the Vatican walls, the author has made us a priceless gift. She has let us into the world we otherwise would’ve never been able to enter. Of course, for those not living in Australia, nowadays there is a chance to visit some sheep stations in the Outback, to marvel at its majestic vastness during a short tour. But neither of us has an opportunity to travel in time and live through all phases of an Australian sheep station life cycle, not as it was decades ago.

“It was amazing how quickly the land mended; within a week little green shots of grass were poking out of the gluey morass, and within two months the roasted trees were coming into leaf. If the people were tough and resilient, it was because the land gave them no opportunity to be otherwise; those who were faint in heart or lacking a fanatical streak of endurance did not stay long in the Great Northwest.”

“The Thorn Birds” by Colleen McCullough is about tough and resilient people. It’s also about human toughness and resilience appearing in different shapes and forms – different for everyone in details, while remaining the same concept for all on the global scale.






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The Thorn Birds

Book review / The Everlasting Dance by Ellen Khodakivska

The Everlasting Dance by Ellen Khodakivska

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


People often complain that life is cruel to them since it doesn’t let their dream come true. Seldom do they imagine what they would do if fate gave them a chance to fulfill more than one of their dreams.

Marcus and Linda are young, enthusiastic about the careers they’ve chosen, and passionate about their futures. It’s no wonder they have been singled out by fate. They’ve been given the most precious gift people can dream of. But it so happens sometimes that not the twists of fate serve as obstacles on one’s path to happiness. Sometimes it’s people who build walls within themselves.

“The Everlasting Dance” by Ellen Khodakivska is a beautiful story of life choices and fateful decisions. Leipzig, Seville, Paris – their streets keep countless memories of people who laughed, shared secrets with each other, whispered words of love, and dreamt that around the corner new opportunities await them. These streets were silent witnesses to Marcus and Linda’s story, never sharing their vast experience about the twists and turns of human fates. We are lucky we don’t need old stones to tell us people’s stories. It’s always other people who share them with the world. I’m grateful to Ellen Khodakivska for sharing the story an old-fashioned, elegant man she met in the park told her, having sensed that she can do it justice.





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The Everlasting Dance

Book review / The Younglings: Fire and Magic by Helena M. Craggs

The Younglings: Fire & Magic by Helena M. Craggs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“The Younglings: Fire and Magic” is the second instalment of the Younglings fantasy series penned by Helena M. Craggs.

This book is such a page-turner that I’ve read it in two days, grabbing every opportunity to read, even if I had only twenty free minutes.

Quinn Carter and his team are back, and we join the party when it’s in full swing. The young Keepers have their schedules packed with both supernatural and real-life issues, all of them challenging and leaving absolutely no space for boredom. When you are young, hot, and with superpowers – even if for some they don’t come from magic but from a uniquely high IQ – how can your life be anything but exciting? And thanks to Helena M. Craggs we readers get to enjoy the exhilarating ride together with her characters.

While reading, I smiled, giggled, and had my heart flutter with worry for the characters’ well-being that is being put at risk due to their noble mission to protect the innocent. I nodded somewhat condescendingly when the maximalism of the youth took an upper hand and forced the young people to take rushed – usually irrational! – decisions. Haven’t we all been there, vehemently believing that we and one we can take control of our lives, disregarding the opinions of people we love? I loved how masterfully the author managed to tread the thin line between showing her characters' strength and dedication to the path chosen and their insecurity about how real-life relationships work. I found the vulnerability of characters endowed with powerful magical gifts extremely appealing.

Another thing that I love about this series is the depiction of friendship ties between the characters. The Quinn’s crew is of a sort we all wanted to be a part of when we were teenagers. Moreover, I think that those of us who don’t have a circle of friends from school/college/university years, still dream about “finding our own pack”. While those who are blessed to have saved friendships from their youth days realise how exclusively lucky they are.

Well, I could go on babbling about how much I loved the second book of the Younglings, but I think it would be better if you stopped reading my review and dived right into reading about Quinn’s team adventures. The story has it all! Mysterious billionaire, a secret council of the supernaturals, dangerous vampires, moody werewolves – ooops, only don’t call Miguel a werewolf, or you’ll be in big trouble! –, young love and all the delicious sufferings that come with it, bad guys who think they’ve perfected their skills of disguising their gruesome hobbies… and much more.

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m among those readers who eagerly await the next instalment of the Younglings series.





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The Younglings: Fire & Magic